Claremorris to host All-Ireland Festival of Drama

The All-Ireland Confined Drama Finals returns to Claremorris this year, running from April 25th to May 3rd. The results will be announced on Sunday, May 4th, at a gala dinner in McWilliam Park Hotel, which will be live-streamed.

Drama festivals are held all over the country in March. There is a Confined and an Open competition within each festival. The Open Competition is for groups with significant experience. The Confined Competition is for newer groups or groups with less experience or smaller groups or those with fewer resources. 

Points are awarded by an independent adjudicator at each festival, with the winners getting twelve points, the runners-up getting five, and the third-placed group getting two points. A league table is tabulated based on the scores achieved by the groups at the festivals. A group can enter no more than eight festivals. The top nine groups in each section qualify for the All-Ireland finals.

The Open All-Irelands are held annually in Athlone in the Dean Crowe Theatre. The Confined finals alternate around the provinces and this year will be held in Claremorris.

The All-Ireland Confined Finals were previously held in Claremorris in 2014 when Kilmuckridge Drama Group, from Co Wexford, won with Conor McPherson’s play ‘The Weir.’ Local group, The Upstage Players, have chosen the same play as their entry this year.

Castleblaney Drama Group were the winners in 1997, which was also held in Claremorris, with a play called ‘Blue Remembered Hills’ by Dennis Potter. And in 1992, when the finals were also staged in Claremorris, Allen Players from Co Kildare won with ‘The Caretaker’ by Alan Pinter.

There has been a long association with drama in Claremorris dating back to the late 1960s and the late Fr P.V. O’Brien. The area has produced winners too.

In 1973, Claremorris Players won the Open All-Ireland with ‘The Black Stranger’ by Gerard Healy directed by Fr P.V. O’Brien. Fr O’Brien had previously won the All-Ireland Open competition on two occasions with Tuam Theatre Guild.

When Fr O’Brien moved away from the area, Ray Leonard RIP, took over as drama leader in the town. He directed the group to Confined All-Ireland success in Gorey in 1982 with the same play but with a different cast.

Ray Leonard directed another local production to success when Garrymore Drama Group were victorious in 1990 with JM Synge’s ‘The Playboy of the Western World’. The late Matt McLoughlin directed Garrymore to victory with the same play but with a different cast in Derry in 1999.

Peter McCallig, the Festival Director, says it costs about €60,000 to stage the festival.

“We’re delighted that a local firm, CBE, has stepped in as sponsors,” Peter told the Western People, “because the previous sponsor, Bostik’s, term of sponsorship had run out. So it is great to have a local sponsor and I’d like to thank them on behalf of the group, the town and drama nationally.”

Peter said that season ticket sales have been above projected expectations.

“Once the results from the festivals around the country start coming in, and it becomes clearer what groups will qualify or have qualified, the sales will really take off. We’re expecting a packed house every night, like we had on the previous occasions when we held the finals,” Peter said.

Once the final league table placings are established, a draw for the running order will be held in Claremorris on April 6th.

Peter admits that audiences for drama nationwide are getting older.

“When I got involved first there was always one or two rows in front for children but that is long gone,” Peter said. “They don’t seem interested these days. 

"Drama has changed a lot down the years. When I started going, it was John B Keane plays, or comedies or an odd classic, but nothing too heavy. Nothing serious. The plays that groups are doing nowadays are totally different.” 

 Peter says there are always last-minute things that arise as the festival draws near. 

“We always try and do it better each time. In the early days when groups came, you had to give them a lot of technical help. They wouldn’t be familiar with the lighting system because it would be more sophisticated than they were used to in their own community hall. That’s a huge difference. 

"The introduction of laptop computers brought about a big change too. All music and sound effects are played off them now and some use them to control the lighting.” 

While the finals always attract great crowds, they come with a raft of protocols that must be observed.

“We have a buddy system,” Peter explained. “A member of our committee is allocated to each qualifying group, to take care of them on the day. They might have special dietary requirements or need something specific in their production. So, one member of our committee deals with each group, to give the attention required and to share the workload.

“We also have to observe pages of protocols around who has to be invited and who can be on stage on the opening night, and on the final night, and who can speak and so on,” Peter said. “We have a lot of guests to invite from festivals all over the country and each qualifying group will have a free table of ten at the gala dinner. 

"We have to provide music, and we have to livestream the event and put screens around the venue showing the results. 

"There’s a lot of work in it but we have experience and we have great facilities.” 

Peter said the festival offers a great opportunity to showcase the town and the area. Estimates put the value to the town of the festival at over half a million euros.

“We’re updating the listings on our website. We’re putting in all of the amenities in the area, from beauty salons to accommodation to taxis, dentists and leisure facilities.” 

A Fringe Festival will run alongside the drama festival with cultural events spread across a range of venues and locations, throughout the week.

On Saturday, April 26th, Declan Drohan will give a presentation on the poetry of Paul Durcan in the Library at 2pm. An art exhibition by artist and drama adjudicator, Geoff O'Keeffe, will open in The Gallery at 4pm and will run for the week. There will be choral music by the Westport Singers in the covered area at the back of the Town Square.

On Sunday, April 27th, there will be classical music at Clare Lake/McMahon Park at 2pm and an art demonstration/lecture by local artist, Kay Brennan, in the Studio also at 2pm. On Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, April 28th to 30th, there will be an art exhibition by Claremorris Artists Group in the Town Hall Studio.

On Thursday, May 1st, Andrew Newman will present an Introduction to Classical Music, and on Saturday, May 3rd, Geoff O'Keeffe will facilitate a Drama Workshop in the Family Resource Centre at 9.30am. There will be traditional music at 6pm in the covered area of the square.

A photo exhibition by Claremorris Camera Club will run for all nine days of the festival.

The programme of 15-minute plays, which has run since 2013, will not go ahead this year.

The committee responsible for the event is made up of Peter McCallig, Linda Connolly-Beirne, Carmel Glynn, Michael Brennan, Pat Walsh, Colm Kitching, Kay Brennan, Eileen Connolly, Sean Moran, Mary Murphy, Liam Newman, Anne Maloney, Breda Walsh, John Farragher, Jimmy Walsh, Rachael Comer, Patsy Kelly, Pat Doyle, Marguerite Doyle, Mary Esler, John Russell and Noel Armstrong.